"I think I know what's in your mind," said the younger man seriously. "You are afraid she'll tell others?"
The lawyer tapped his forehead significantly. "It may result in THAT."
"Never!" cried the other emphatically. "It will never be that way with her, Mr. Carroll. Her head is as clear as—"
"Brain fever," interrupted Carroll, with a gloomy shake of his head. "Delirium and all that sort of thing. Haven't you noticed how ill she looks? Feverish, nervous, irritable? Well, there you are."
"It is a dreadful state of affairs," groaned Booth.
"Not especially pleasant for you, my friend."
"God knows it isn't!"
"I believe, if I were in your place, I'd rather have the truth told broadcast than to live for ever with that peril hanging over me. It would be better for Miss Castleton, too."
"I am not worrying over that, sir," said the other earnestly. "I shall be able and ready to defend her, no matter what happens. To be perfectly honest with you, I don't believe she's accountable to any one but God in this matter. The law has no claim against her, except in a perfunctory way. I don't deny that it is only right and just that Wrandall's family should know the truth, if she chooses to reveal it to them. If she doesn't, I shall be the last to suggest it to her."
"On that point I thoroughly agree with you. The Wrandall family should know the truth. It is—well, I came near to using the word diabolical—to keep them in ignorance. There is something owing to the Wrandalls, if not to the law."